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President Trump and the Violence of the Word

By Brigitte L. Nacos

This weekend, as I listened and read assessments of Donald Trump’s first year as U.S. president, Ross Douthat’s column in today’s New York Times caught my particular attention. His argument is, as the headline states, “so far more farce than tragedy.”

I agree that our democratic system has not been replaced (yet) by authoritarian Trumpism but disagree with the columnist’s core arguments, namely,

that there is “a vast gulf between things Trump says he wants—which are indeed often authoritarian—and the things that actually happen in the essential characteristics of his presidency’s first year.”

that “Trump is a dictator on Twitter, a Dear Leader in his own mind, but in the real world there is no Trumpocracy because Trump cannot even rule himself.”

These citations ignore the power of the written or spoken word. Language matters. Hate speech can and does inflict harm on the targets of hateful words—especially when these are communicated by the U.S. president in the Oval Office, at staged cheering events amidst his most admiring fans, and, of course, on Twitter.

Whether expressed in vulgar or merely “tough” language, when the president and his minions attack and stereotype minorities, they injure their targets. Here are just a few examples from today’s mock presidential etiquette guide in the Times:

Retweet inflammatory and fake anti-Muslim videos from an ultranationalist British group;

Ask in a meeting with lawmakers on immigration policy, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?,” referring to Africa, and “Why do we want people from Haiti here? Take them out.”

Warn American citizens in Puerto Rico, only weeks after a catastrophic hurricane, that the federal government can’t help them out “forever” even as you tell victims of a hurricane in Texas, “We are with you today, we are with you tomorrow, and we will be with you EVERY SINGLE DAY AFTER, to restore, recover, and REBUILD!”

Tell Americans that a march of torch-carrying white supremacists and neo-Nazis includes “some very fine people” — and when one of those marchers murders a peaceful counterprotester, condemn violence on “both sides”

There is so much more to be added to this list of words likely to injure targeted minorities, especially Mexicans and other Latinos, among those DACA recipients. Then there are the hundreds of thousands of Salvadorians and Haitians threatened to lose their TPS status and be forced to leave this country after staying here legally for most of their lives. And, of course, Muslims. And people of color, anyone not white. They all have been rhetorically put down by Mr. Trump. And often words are followed by deeds that cause human suffering.

This president, no doubt, has engaged in hate speech before and during his campaign. And this did not stop once he became president.

Unfortunately, the old children’s rhyme, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” is wrong. Words do hurt. Hate speech directed at particular ethnic, racial, religious, or other minorities or members thereof are injurious.

The sociologist Mary Jackman has noted that hateful spoken and written words can lead to psychological, social or material injuries. Legal scholar Mari Matsuda includes physical harm as consequence of “violence of the word” and notes that the targets of such speech “experienced physiological symptoms and emotional distress ranging from fear in the gut, rapid pulse rate and difficulty in breathing, nightmares, post-traumatic stress disorder, hypertension, psychosis, and suicide.”